Developers will limit San Pedro's Ponte Vista to 830 homes

The developers of San Pedro's proposed Ponte Vista housing project announced Monday that they will limit the project to 830 homes.

The announcement didn't come as a big surprise to community members, who had anticipated that the 830 number - listed as an alternative project in the draft EIR - would be the most likely to win city approval.

"It's no surprise," said Diana Nave, president of the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council. "Certainly 830 is better than 1,135 (homes)."

Either way, though, the neighborhood council still has many concerns about the long-delayed project, she said.

The draft report currently under study by city planners focused on the more ambitious version of the proposed project, calling for 1,135 homes.

But developers have said that the 830-unit version would be economically viable.

"The new plan for Ponte Vista will better reflect community desires," said Dennis Cavallari, project manager for the property owner, iStar, in a written news release emailed Monday about the scaled back version. "The community and Council member Joe Buscaino's office overwhelmingly prefer the 830-unit alternative."

Criticism of the project - to be built on

61.5 acres at 26900 S. Western Ave. - has long centered on density effects, especially in traffic.

Those concerns largely remain, Nave said, even with the 830-unit proposal.

"A lot of our concerns still apply," she said. "We'd like to see some modifications," including a further reduction in density, she said.

Other neighborhood council concerns include the lack of on-site amenities that could reduce traffic and the elimination of dedicated senior housing and public park space.

There also are concerns about the number of rental units included, she said.

Cavallari said the lower-number project is a good fit for the community.

"The 830-unit alternative is the right project for the site, with the right mixture of home types," Cavallari said.

Under different developers, Ponte Vista originally was proposed as a 2,300-home project in 2005.

The comment period closed Jan. 7 on the draft environmental report, which now will undergo further review by Los Angeles city planners.